This Copycat TGI Fridays Whiskey Glaze (also previously called Jack Daniels Sauce), is the perfect blend of sweet and savory. It’s amazing on chicken, beef, pork, seafood, veggies and more!
This is one of my Condiment recipes I know you’ll want to keep on hand!
Admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve enjoyed a meal at TGI Fridays. But I still crave two things from that restaurant. The sesame jack chicken strips, and Jack Daniels sauce!
I did notice they’ve changed the name of the sauce and chicken strips, dropping the Jack Daniels name and calling it whiskey glaze. But I’m guessing the sauce itself still tastes the same. Fingers crossed!
But if you were a fan of their signature whiskey glaze back in the day, I’m here to make your food dreams come true. This glaze tastes just like their sauce, is easy to make at home, freezer-friendly, and goes with just about anything!
If you’ve never had Fridays whiskey glaze, you are in for a massive treat. It’s perfectly sweet and savory with a little spice. Perfectly baste-able and dip-able, it’s about the consistency of maple syrup.
So let’s see how to make it shall we?
How to make copycat TGI Friday’s whiskey glaze?
This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.
- Roast garlic. This step can be done ahead to save time, or skipped altogether, but I think the roasted garlic really makes the glaze taste amazing.
- Bring the start of the sauce to a boil. Heating the pineapple juice, water, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar to a boil, then reducing the heat to simmer helps all the sugar fully dissolve.
- Add garlic. I don’t like big clumps of garlic in my sauce, so I like to mash the cloves in a bowl first.
- Add remaining ingredients.
- Simmer. Letting the sauce simmer for about 45 minutes is going to concentrate the flavor and reduce the sauce, which thickens it to a glaze consistency.
Helpful Tip!
While you’re roasting garlic for this recipe, I would go ahead and roast an additional head or two. Roasting garlic completely changes the texture and flavor, and you’ll be wanting to use it in just about everything! Some of my favorite uses are a roasted garlic cream sauce, and roasted garlic hummus.
Variations of this recipe
- Non-roasted garlic – personally, I find roasted garlic gives this sauce the best flavor, but if you really don’t have time, or can’t get good quality fresh garlic, the jars of pre-minced garlic will work. I would use between 1 and 1 1/2 Tbsp.
- Alcohol-free – even though the vast majority (if not all) of the alcohol is cooked off during the reduction process, I understand some of you may not be able to use alcohol. The good news is, you can simply omit it and replace it with an equal amount of water.
- Light brown sugar – if you don’t have dark brown sugar, light brown sugar will work just fine. The sauce may be a little bit lighter in color, but should still taste great. You could also add a drizzle of molasses to the sauce, which would mimic the molasses-y flavor of the dark brown sugar.
- Solution for sauce not thickening – even though the sauce should reduce by about half during the simmering process, if you find it’s still too thin for your tastes, you can mix together 1 tsp of cornstarch with 1 1/2 tsp cold water, then stir that into the sauce as it simmers. Be aware though, like most sauces, as it cools, it will thicken a bit more.
FAQ’s
While this glaze does have alcohol in it, I think the vast majority, if not all, the alcohol content is cooked off while the sauce is reducing. The good news is, there’s a very small amount of actual whiskey in this sauce/glaze… most of the flavor comes from all the other ingredients, so if you want to omit the whiskey, you can.
Since I don’t work for TGI Fridays or Jack Daniels, I’m not entirely sure. I just noticed a while ago that it was changed! My guess is that it has something to do with trademark laws, but I don’t really want to speculate. It’s still a delicious sauce 🙂
Well for one, not everyone may have access to purchase it. But also, I read a lot of reviews of that sauce, and people didn’t really find it tastes like their signature glaze. Plus, when you make it yourself, you can control the quality of ingredients, increase or decrease the spiciness, etc. I’m a huge fan of homemade sauces versus bottled.
Making whiskey glaze ahead of time
As with most sauce or glaze recipes, you can absolutely make this recipe ahead of time. It will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator (in an airtight container of course).
You can also prep it ahead by roasting the garlic, chopping the onion, measuring out the brown sugar, etc.
The biggest time saver when prepping ahead, is roasting the garlic. This can be done several days in advance, and saves about 40 to 50 minutes of time.
Storage
Leftover glaze should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and used within 1 week.
Before storing, make sure the glaze is cooled to room temperature.
Freezing
For longer storage, whiskey glaze can be frozen!
Make sure the glaze has cooled to room temperature, then transfer to freezer-safe container, label it with the date, and freeze for up to 3 months.
My Favorite Saucepan!
No need to break out a big pan for this recipe, so this 1.5 quart pan is perfect. It’s also great for reheating soups and more!
Recipe based on Allrecipes
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
Roasted garlic
- 1 head garlic
- drizzle of olive oil
- pinch of salt and pepper
Rest of whiskey glaze
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 2/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce reduced sodium is preferred
- 1 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice
- 3 Tbsp finely minced white onion
- 1 Tbsp whiskey Jack Daniels is the original whiskey used
- 1 Tbsp canned crushed pineapple
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper amount can be adjusted based on your tolerance for heat
Instructions
Roast garlic
- Heat oven to 400°F. Peel loose paper off the garlic, keeping the whole head together.
- Slice off the top 1/2” of the whole head, exposing the tops of the cloves. Place garlic on a sheet of foil and drizzle the exposed cloves liberally with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Wrap the foil up around the garlic, then place in baking dish and roast for 40-50 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
Make the glaze
- Add pineapple juice, water, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce and brown sugar to a medium saucepan and heat over MED HIGH heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, whisking occasionally, then once lightly boiling, reduce heat to LOW so the mixture is simmering.
- Squeeze roasted garlic cloves out into a small bowl and mash the cloves until smooth. Alternately, you can add the cloves to the saucepan and use a whisk to mash them, but I've found it's difficult to get the garlic as smooth this way.
- Add lemon juice, white onion, whiskey, crushed pineapple and cayenne pepper. Whisk to combine, then adjust heat if needed to keep the sauce simmering steadily.
- Let sauce simmer for 45-50 minutes, until sauce has reduced by about half and is syrupy in texture. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t boil over. Keep in mind the sauce will thicken a bit more as it cools.
- Set aside to cool a bit, then use immediately, or cool completely and store.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- Recipe makes between 1 and 1 1/2 cups once reduced down. For serving size I estimate about 1-2 Tbsp per person, but feel free to serve this how you’d like.
Storage
Leftover glaze should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and used within 1 week. Before storing, make sure the glaze is cooled to room temperature.Freezing
For longer storage, whiskey glaze can be frozen! Make sure the glaze has cooled to room temperature, then transfer to freezer-safe container, label it with the date, and freeze for up to 3 months.Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Annette says
I have made this for years and my husband and I absolutely love it. After the garlic is roasted I emulsify it with the onion lemon juice, cayenne, whiskey, and crushed pineapple, that way I don’t have clumps of garlic and onion….then I add it to my sauce already simmering and simmer a little longer. I triple my recipe and it lasts a long time in the fridge….more than a week and have done it this way for years…The best sauce ever. It doesn’t get the thickness that I would like but I tried the cornstarch method and was totally disappointed and never did it again. Overall we absolutely Love this sauce. I use it for dipping as a side and marinating any meat!
Kait says
Hello !! So we made the sauce ahead of time like you suggested and it congealed over night can we reheat it or is it a lost cause ? I also wasn’t there for the cooking process with my sister so idk if she over reduced it or something
The Chunky Chef says
Just warm it up in a saucepan and it should be back to the correct consistency, unless it was reduced way too much.
Christy says
I’m excited I found this recipe and will be trying it within the next few days however, I have a question. Can I use the juice drained from my crushed pineapple in place of regular pineapple juice?
The Chunky Chef says
Absolutely 🙂
Wendi says
This is spot on! So yummy and easy to make and I will over and over again!
Diane says
This is a really good sauce for chicken, pork, salmon and ham. You can spice it up or use different sweetness. I’ve used maple syrup, molasses, sorghum. We love it!
Mzzwiz says
Your recipe site came up randomly while I was looking for this sauce recipe. I’m so glad I clicked on it. I don’t often visit sites that I don’t recognize.
Your recipe is wonderful! I made a few tweaks (preference wise). I used this on the home style chicken nuggets (from big box store) and served with fresh green beans.
It was just like TGIFridays and it tasted amazing. I have looked for this sauce/flavor for years and every recipe i found was too complicated or time consuming.
Thank you for a wonderful recipe. You did great!
Mary whinery says
Would love to see the ratio for the recipe!! I don’t think breaking it down for a small batch would hurt
The Chunky Chef says
The servings are adjustable, so you can adjust it to be as small of a batch as you’d like.
Zoe says
This is the greatest thing I’ve ever made. I follow the recipe to a tee but feel like mine is still quite runny. Should I cook it longer?
The Chunky Chef says
It should be syrupy, but not super thick, and it will thicken a bit as it cools. But if you’d like it thicker, you can cook it a bit longer to reduce it more 🙂
Sandie says
I’ve added molasses to help thicken it up and it’s worked wonderfully!